Flux

The phone rang. It was Ronny. It was early.

"Bloody hell, Curt!" he said, in a horrible British accent. "Fancy a game of chess and a cup a' joe?"

I agreed to meet him. When I found him seated behind a new board he had just bought, he immediately told me a joke he was pretty excited about. He said he had made it up.

Q. What did the one kangaroo say to the other kangaroo when they were playing chess?

A. Checkmate! (emphasis on the mate)

He told me this one a minute later:

Q. What is a snake's favorite game?
A. Chesssssssss

Ronny is kind of corny.

But, we played some chess. Again, it was kind of bad. Not only is Ronny not very good, but he is pretty prone to distraction. Today it was text messaging. Ronny has a cell phone, and it kept beeping, and he would punch numbers for a minute or two and then wait for the next beep.

After I had him beat in a second game, I was a little upset and I said, "Ronny! What the heck? Are you hanging out with me or your stupid cell phone?"

And then Ronny was upset. He grabbed his board and said "guess I'll see you later Curt," really dejectedly and left me sitting there nursing my coffee mug. People stared at us through the ordeal, and I wondered what they were thinking. Whatever. I guess I don't really care what they think, but I was kind of enjoying this new friendship.

Now what? This whole scenario is very strange. Ronny seemed like a stable enough guy. Is it me?

Maybe it's me.

I should get him a card, or something.